The majority of households receive television content through cable television systems or satellite television systems. Such systems are managed by service providers which have traditionally relied on a few original equipment manufacturer (OEM) suppliers of hardware (e.g., set-top boxes “STBs”). The reason is that the functionality of set-top boxes has not yet been integrated into digital televisions.
Under this scenario, menu navigation and television operational functions are generally controlled by a remote control supplied by the service provider (e.g., STE remote control). This regulates the television to the role of a simple display device, and thus, various enhanced capabilities of the television are often forgotten or are not used by the viewer. The reason is that such usage would require the viewer to maintain and utilize two different remote control devices to access the television's enhanced capabilities.
Moreover, certain service providers and third party manufacturers produce “universal” remote controls that incorporate the remote control codes for multiple device manufacturers. As a result, these remote controls are able to control devices built by someone else without payment of a license. Also, device manufacturers can build devices utilizing the remote control codes for other devices. The remote control codes can be reverse engineered and duplicated without regard to the original device manufacturer or the payment of a license.
Based on these activities, remote controls provided with the STB or third-party universal remote control devices often are used to control the television and other devices while the remote control provided with the electronic device is put aside and goes unused. In the case of a television, for example, the lack of use of the device-specific remote control can result in bypassing functionality and improved interfaces available from the television's built-in user interface. This hampers innovation of next-generation televisions, especially when costly enhanced capabilities and interfaces are normally not used by the user using “universal” remote controls, and hence, the additional costs incurred for these enhanced capabilities and interfaces cannot be easily recaptured by the television manufacturer.